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New evidence that may support the existence of bigfoot has been discovered in Washington. Last September, the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization conducted an expedition in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in southern Washington.

The 13-person team used food, pheromones and recordings of what they believe may be bigfoot calls to lure the creature to them. What they got is the imprint of what appears to be a large, hairy primate in a mud bank where they had left apples to attract the creature. Several alleged footprints have been recorded over the years, but few body impressions have been observed.

BFRO researchers claim the imprint shows the left forearm, hip, thigh and heel of a large primate. They surmise that the creature made the impression as it sat down to eat the apples. Jeff Meldrum, an anthropologist from Idaho State University who examined the cast, reports that the imprint appears to have been made by a large, hair-covered hominid about 8 feet tall. Meldrum also identified dermal ridges, like human fingerprints, on the heel print. The BFRO has invited scientists and forensic specialists to examine the cast, but so far the group hasn't had any takers.Bibliographical Information:

Jeff Meldrum, an anthropologist from Idaho State University in Pocatello, is one of the scientists who studied an imprint alleged to be that of bigfoot.

THE imprint of a hairy backside in the mud of Washington state is the strongest hint yet that Bigfoot is roaming the North American far west, according to researchers who made the discovery.

Many people doubt whether the giant primate, commonly known as Bigfoot, actually exists. Hundreds of its supposed footprints have been photographed and cast, but this is one of the few body impressions of the hypothetical creature.

Comic: Bigfoot research struggles to be taken seriously [Photo: Moviestore Collection]

"If we can just get other scientists to look at this with an objective view, I think they'll say there must be something out there," says LeRoy Fish, a zoologist and retired wildlife ecologist who took part in the expedition that discovered the imprint.

Most stories of the bipedal apelike creature are dismissed as misidentifications or hoaxes. But Fish and others think Bigfoot, or Sasquatch as it is known in Canada, may be living hidden away in remote wilderness areas.

The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO), which includes some trained scientists, sponsored a 13-person expedition in September to look for evidence in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in southern Washington state. To attract one of the creatures, the team set out food, spread pheromones and played recordings thought to be the calls of other Bigfoots.

After placing apples in a muddy spot one evening, the investigators returned the next morning to find an impression which, they say, shows the left forearm, hip, thigh and heel of a large primate. They believe the impression was made as the creature sat down and reached over to pick up the bait.

Anthropologist Jeff Meldrum of Idaho State University says the imprint seems to have been made by a large, hair-covered hominid more than 2.5 metres tall. Meldrum says he found markings that look like human fingerprints on the heel print. "All we're trying to say at this stage is that there's evidence that justifies objective consideration," Meldrum says.

The BFRO is inviting outside scientists to examine the casts, but has so far had no offers. "It's been a challenge," says Meldrum. "For most people, you just mention Bigfoot and you get a snicker." Benjamin Radford of the Skeptical Inquirer magazine agrees that mainstream scientists are wary of the subject because of a history of fakes. "After a while they just get tired of wasting their time on hoaxes."

Researchers in the Pacific Northwest believe they've obtained the first clear body imprint of a sasquatch, evidence they hope will spur serious research on the ape of legend.

The imprint was found by a team of researchers in a mud wallow near Mount Adams in southern Washington on Sept. 22, according to an announcement Monday from Idaho State University.

Skeptics dismissed the reported evidence of bigfoot, as the never-captured animal is also called. "All they have are anecdotes and anecdotal data," said one.

But impressions of what appeared to be a large hairy forearm, buttock, thigh and heel recorded in the mud were all roughly 50 percent bigger than a 6-foot tall man, said Jeffrey Meldrum, a physical anthropologist at Idaho State University who's one of the few active academic bigfoot researchers.

Meldrum said the sasquatch appeared to be lying on its side as it reached into the center of the wallow for apples and nectarines the team used as bait.

While it's not definitive proof of bigfoot, the cast constitutes "significant and compelling new evidence" that Meldrum hopes will stimulate further research into the possible presence of these primates in the mountains of the Northwest and elsewhere.

The anthropological establishment rejects theories that sasquatch, which has loomed large in northwestern and Colorado lore, could possibly exist. Most scientists steer well clear of even talking about Meldrum's work.

"If you believe bigfoot, it's most likely you believe in Loch Ness and the lost continent of Atlantis," said Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic Magazine and author of "Why People Believe Weird Things." Bigfoot advocates "are tapping into an open-mindedness that borders on gullibility," he said, adding that there is only anecdotal evidence of its existence.

But Walter Hartwig, a California anthropologist who specializes in fossilized South American monkeys, defended Meldrum's work.

"What Jeff does is bring science to bear on observations that relate to the concept of bigfoot," Hartwig said. "Professional anthropologists may sneer at this because they believe in their hearts that the concept of bigfoot is impossible." Meldrum supervised the final cleaning of the mud-caked 200-pound plaster cast of the imprint, which was also examined by four other bigfoot experts. They agreed it could not be attributed to any known animal.

Several bags of hair plucked from the cast by Meldrum were examined by Henner Fahrenbach, an Oregon biomedical research scientist. Most came from elk, deer, or coyotes. But one fragment matched unidentified primate hairs previously collected near other sasquatch sightings, he said.

"It wasn't a lot, but people are convicted in court every day on as much," said Fahrenbach.

The investigative team used a thermal imager loaned by a television production crew to track the animal and found its footprints, according to expedition leader Matthew Moneymaker, an attorney who heads the Bigfoot Field Researcher's Organization.

The team also broadcast tape-recorded calls of a sasquatch into the night - and received replies, said Moneymaker.

One reply was uncomfortably nearby. "The guys closest to it were petrified," he said. "These are obviously loud noises, much louder than any other animal out there." While Meldrum says the find "may represent an unknown animal," Moneymaker is certain it was made by a sasquatch.

"I'm 100 percent confident of that," he said. "It was clearly a hominid-shaped thing, except that it was 40 to 50 percent larger than a human, and it was covered by hair."

ISU Researcher Coordinates Analysis of Body Imprint That May Belong to Sasquatch

By Glenn AlfordIdaho State University, Office of University and Government Relations

Dr. Jeff Meldrum, associate professor of anatomy and anthropology at Idaho State University, is a member of the scientific team examining a plaster cast of what may be the first documented body imprint of a Sasquatch.

The imprint of what appears to be a large animal's left forearm, hip, thigh, and heel was discovered Sept. 22 in a muddy wallow near Mt. Adams in southern Washington state by a Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization expedition in the Gifford-Pinchot National Forest.

The investigating team, including Meldrum; Dr. Grover Krantz, retired physical anthropologist from Washington State University; Dr. John Bindernagel, Canadian wildlife biologist; John Green, retired Canadian journalist and author; and Dr. Ron Brown, exotic animal handler and health care administrator, all examined the cast and agreed that it cannot be attributed to any commonly known Northwest animal and may represent an unknown primate.

Meldrum, whose research includes comparative primate anatomy and the emergence of human walking supervised the careful cleaning of the cast, and will coordinate its analysis by a scientific team. He first became actively interested in the question of the existence of a North American ape after examining fresh Sasquatch (popularly called Bigfoot) tracks in 1996.

"While not definitively proving the existence of a species of North American ape, the cast constitutes significant and compelling new evidence that will hopefully stimulate further serious research and investigation into the presence of these primates in the Northwest mountains and elsewhere," Meldrum said.

Dr. LeRoy Fish, a retired wildlife ecologist from Triangles Lake, Ore., with a doctorate in zoology from Washington State University; Derek Randles, a landscape architect from Belfair, Wash.; and Richard Noll, a tooling metrologist from Edmonds, Wash.; discovered and cast the partial body imprint.

More than 200 pounds of plaster were needed to produce the 3-1/2 x 5-foot cast of the entire impression, which was reinforced with researchers' aluminum tent poles. Other Sasquatch evidence documented by the party includes voice recordings and indistinct 17-inch footprints.

Trace evidence attributed to Sasquatch is usually footprints, but impressions of other body parts, including hands, knuckles, and buttocks, have occasionally been found. This unique instance of a partial body impression provides further insights about this elusive ape species' anatomy. Preliminary measurements indicate its body dimensions are 40 to 50 percent greater than those of a six-foot tall human.

After the cast was cleaned, extensive impressions of hair on the buttock and thigh surfaces and a fringe of longer hair along the forearm were evident. Meldrum identified what appear to be skin ridge patterns on the heel, comparable to fingerprints, that are characteristic of primates.

The ridge characteristics are consistent with other examples from Sasquatch footprints Meldrum has studied in collaboration with officer Jimmy Chilcutt, a latent fingerprint examiner with the Conroe, Texas, Police Department. The anatomy of the heel, ankle, and Achilles tendon are also distinct and consistent with models of the Sasquatch foot derived by Meldrum after examining hundreds of alleged Sasquatch footprints.

Hair samples collected at the scene and from the cast itself and examined by Dr. Henner Fahrenbach, a biomedical research scientist from Beaverton, Ore., were primarily of deer, elk, coyote, and bear, as was expected since tracks in the wallow were mostly of those animals. However, based on characteristics matching those of otherwise indeterminate primate hairs collected in association with other Sasquatch sightings, he identified a single distinctly primate hair as "Sasquatch."

Sasquatch is a species of North American ape suspected to inhabit the mountainous forests of the Northwest. Its existence remains controversial despite numerous eyewitness sightings and the discovery of enormous footprints.

Gifford Pinchot National Forest west of Yakima, Washington is location of unidentified and possible Bigfoot body print and hairs discovered in mud on September 22, 2000.

October 8, 2000 Tahuya, Washington - Bigfoot tracker, landscape contractor and Tahuya resident, Derek Randles, has a large plaster cast of what might be the first partial body print of a Bigfoot ever found. In September, he helped the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO) plan an expedition of fourteen people into the Gifford Pinchot wilderness west of Yakima, Washington. Their goal was to find Bigfoot tracks, hairs and screams for an Australian camera crew producing a segment for the Discovery Channel program Animal X . The group set up a sound projection system to loudly broadcast a Bigfoot scream recorded recently at Lake Tahoe, California. On September 21st, after one of the broadcasts of three Bigfoot screams, the researchers were shocked to hear a nearly identical series of three screams answer back.Around 3:30 AM on September 22, Derek Randles and some of his colleagues went in the direction of the screams and placed fruit in the middle of a watery, muddy wallow in hopes that whatever was producing the eerie answers might be tempted to eat the fruit and leave tracks in the mud. After sunrise, the men found more than footprints.

INTERVIEWDerek Randles, Bigfoot tracker since 1985 and member, Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO), Tahuya, Washington : "That evening we set up a sound projection system and started projecting sounds, basically screams, recorded Sasquatch screams through the mountains there near camp. The scream we were projecting was recorded up near Lake Tahoe not too long ago. It was felt to be one of the better Sasquatch screams that you can get. And we were projecting the sounds through the mountains and on the second evening (September 20), we got an answer. It actually answered us back!

WHAT WAS THE REACTION OF YOU AND EVERYONE ELSE AT THAT POINT?Well, it was pretty incredible. Nobody could talk for a moment because we were all trying to make sure everyone heard it. But we all heard it, including the film crew and everyone there. And it was from about 1/4 mile to 1/3 mile up behind our base camp. We had two people up there during that second evening. And we were answered from very close range. We figured approximately 350 feet from the two individuals up on the ridge. It scared them to death. We all heard it almost as loud as what we were projecting. And we were projecting a 150 watt amplifier through a huge bugle horn. This thing answered three times. And it was almost identical to what we were projecting. It was very freaky. A little weird.

DID THE GUYS AT THE UPPER CAMP START RUNNING BACK DOWN?No, but they got very shaken. Very shaken, as a matter of fact.

DID THE FILM CREW FROM AUSTRALIA GET THIS RECORDED?Well, I'm sorry to say that no one got that night recorded. They were busy working with thermal imaging equipment and we were not recording which was a big mistake on our part. But on the good side, on the third night of September 21, we also got a return vocalization and I did record it. It was the night the impression was left in the mud.

SO THE THIRD NIGHT YOU GET A RECORDING. AND HOW DID YOU COME TO FIND THE IMPRESSION OF THE PRIMATE HUMANOID TORSO IN THE MUD?What happened is that the third night on September 21, we heard it coming from the direction of where this muddy wallow was. And the wallow was a good 3/4 of a mile away. So, later that evening, there were a few members of the BFRO that were placing fruit in different areas, a kind of offering.

PUTTING FRUIT OUT TO SEE ...To see if something would walk in and leave tracks so we could get an idea of how many animals were there, if any animals were there. We already knew there was something out there because of the return vocalizations. So at about 3:30 AM September 22, I said we should put some fruit right in the middle of the wallow since it was right from where we heard the return vocalization. My friend, Leroy Fish, and I put some apples in the middle of the wallow - a muddy hole that's probably 15 feet across, a low spot so when it rains it gets full and the animals seemed to congregate there. Then we returned back to camp. We were freezing to death and went to bed.We got up about 7:30 still on September 22 and went to check the wallow accompanied by Richard Knowle who also left fruit out. We noticed that some of the apples were gone and some of the nectarines. And then all three of us noticed at the same moment an impression where an animal had laid down. It looked like a giant human thigh. Actually, left buttock, thigh, knee area, lower leg and four heel imprints."

Researcher's hand on plaster cast next to one of four large heel prints found in mud wallow.Video frame courtesy of King TV, Channel 5 and King5.com, Seattle, Washington.

INTERVIEWJeff Meldrum, Ph.D., Professor of Anthropology, Idaho State University, Pocatello, Idaho: "Upon examining the cast, one can clearly see the hip or buttock region. It appeared that it rolled back and forth as it reached to pick up this fruit out of the water. Why it laid down, I can't say. The posture it adopted upon laying down is a typical primate posture though of sort of hunkering down on one hip and leaning down on the adjacent elbow. We do it when we sit down in the grass sometimes. You can look at great apes in the zoo and picture books and see them adopting a similar posture frequently. You can see the rump or buttock region and continuing on into the thigh. Hair striations are clearly visible there. Then to the side of that is the impression of a forearm from the elbow down to the wrist. The hand is not very distinct and not very visible because of the disturbance of the soil. There were elk and deer that had walked across this puddle and mud subsequent to the impressions, so it wasn't a smooth pristine surface to begin with, before and subsequent. There are clearly footprints over the top of the impression, the body impression. In fact, there is a little trail of coyote footprints that walked right up across the back side of the impression and left their prints.

YOU HAVE BEEN LOOKING AT TRACKS AND CASTS OF WHAT SEEM TO BE A SASQUATCH FOR SOME PERIOD OF TIME. WOULD YOU SAY THIS BODY IMPRESSION IS DEFINITELY PRIMATE OR HUMANOID?It's definitely humanoid in its shape and proportion. And the thing that really points for me is that there are a series of heel impressions where one of the legs, the knee was apparently raised and the toes pointed up to the sky and the heel pushed in on several occasions, probably as it was reaching across to grab that fruit. There were finger drag marks over near the fruit that suggest that's what it was doing.The heel marks were extremely telling because the under surface of the heel and the back part of the foot, sole of the foot, evidences dermataglyphics, the skin ridge patterns that is characteristic of the palms and soles of primates. These are not human ridge patterns. They are of a texture and a flow pattern that we have seen on other Sasquatch prints which is quite distinctive from humans. But they are not exactly like ape, either. They possess some characteristics of both. By that, I don't mean some hybrid or some missing link. I just simply mean that basically we have an ape pattern that superficially resembles a human in that the great toe is in line with the other toes. That alignment naturally affects the flow pattern of the ridges on the sole of the foot, and the composition of the sole of the foot. And this is sort of in between. It has characteristics of both.

WELL, IS IT FAIR TO SAY THAT IN OCTOBER 2000 THAT THIS APPEARS TO BE A FRESH BODY PRINT OF A CREATURE THAT IN ONE OF THE PRESS RELEASES SAID THAT THE RESEARCHERS IS BELIEVED TO BE 7 TO 8 FEET TALL, WEIGHING 800 TO 1000 POUNDS AND THEY BELIEVE THERE MIGHT BE HUNDREDS LIKE THIS THROUGHOUT FORESTS IN THE NORTHWEST.That's correct. In fact, since that interview, that press release, we did some more careful measurements and we completed the cleaning, we were able to make a more accurate measure of both the forearm from the elbow to the wrist and from the gluteal fold at the top of the thigh down to the outside of the knee and that would be a minimum measure and they are about 40 to 50% larger than the same measures on a 6 foot man.So, we're talking at least like 7 or more like 8 to 9 feet in height. This was probably a very large male individual based on the size and extrapolating from previous reports and eyewitness accounts. And the footprints that were found, where the entire length of the foot was present, measured between 16 and 17 inches. That would correlate very well with the dimensions exhibited by this body print.

NOW WHY WOULDN'T THE GENERAL SCIENCES OF ZOOLOGY, BIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY ACCEPT EVIDENCE LIKE THIS AS ABSOLUTELY HARD EVIDENCE THAT SOMETHING UNIDENTIFIED IS OUT THERE?Well, it's difficult to say exactly why. I think there is a combination of reasons. Obviously, zoology typically requires for the description of a new species a type specimen. And that tends to be constituted by a skull or entire body or skin, but some significant tangible piece of the animal. The only precedent we have for describing new species on the basis of trace evidence is that there is a practice in paleontology of describing what is called an ichno species which isn't really a new species, but it is a particular footprint pattern that is seen but for which no known fossil species can account for and so basically, the paleontologists describe the footprint in the absence of the bones of an extinct species until such time some species can be correlated or connected to that particular footprint.

AND HERE YOU HAVE SOMETHING THAT APPEARS TO BE ALIVE LEAVING FOOTPRINTS OF SOMETHING THAT IS MYSTERIOUS BUT YOU'RE SAYING THERE IS NO CATEGORY FOR SCIENCE TO PUT THIS PARTICULAR COMBINATION OF SOMETHING ALIVE WITH FOOTPRINTS AND NO BODY TO GO WITH IT?Exactly. Exactly. So that's the quandary we're in at the moment. Some scientists are basically awaiting the body to make a final judgment. There are others that are incredulous because of the outrageous notion, in their minds, that such a huge animal could have existed in such a habitat in the back yard of the most sophisticated, scientifically, country in the world, if I may. THE UNITED STATES.

And that is a difficult pill to swallow. There is no question about that. But that ­ I hope the philosophy of their discipline should not preclude at least the entertainment of a hypothesis to be tested. That's what I'm about. Trying to accept that as a hypothesis from which we can embark on a serious and systematic evaluation of the evidence. And let the evidence speak for itself.The difficulty that I encounter is when someone says, 'Bigfoot couldn't exist because my preconception of apes' ecology and behavior won't accommodate such an animal living in a temperate forest in the western United States.'Well, that begs the question: What one does with this evidence that exists? These footprints exist. Hair samples exist. And so on. That has to be dealt with on its own merits first. And then the questions: What is its ecology? How does it survive in the winters? Why do we never find bodies or remains of these animals when they expire? Then those will have to be taken in turn and they are legitimate questions.

WHAT ABOUT THE HAIR ON THIS MOST RECENT FIND? HAVE YOU HAD HAIR ANALYSES AND HAS IT BEEN UNUSUAL?We sat down, myself and two other researchers that were there, we examined the cast and sorted through all the hairs collected, both at the scene and quite a number more picked up off the surface of the cast. A number of those turned out to be plant fibers upon close examination, which is easy. People want to be careful and collect absolutely everything that even resembles a hair. We sorted out those and the remaining hairs, and we were quite certain there was a broad sampling of the fauna that made it to that region. Clearly, the footprints indicated that animals were in that area. Those were taken on Tuesday (October 3, 2000) to Dr. Henner Fahrenbach who is affiliated with the Oregon Regional Primate Research Center. He was able to immediately differentiate both ungulates and carnivores. That accounted potentially for the bear and coyote and the ungulate for the deer and the elk. Also among the samples were some primate hair.So, his next step in the wake of that is to take that 'primate' hair and compare it to the samples we have collected from numerous other sites independently all of which show similarities to humans and other primates, but have a distinctive suite of characteristics that seem to characterize them uniquely from other primates and animals.

SO IT'S HAIR THAT DOESN'T QUITE MATCH PRIMATES SUCH AS GORILLA OR PRIMATES SUCH AS HUMANS?Right. It has the greatest similarity to human hair. And at first glance, one can easily mistake it for a human hair. But there are subtle differences in the diameter of the shaft structure, the architecture and the cuticle structure that distinguish it. On last count, Dr. Fahrenbach has a dozen hair specimens that have been collected from a variety of different sources throughout the northwest that all show this same distinctive suite of characteristics. So, it says there are some animals whose hair cannot be readily attributed to any other known animal, but which have consistently showed these same characteristics."Derek Randles:

"WHAT PROVOKED YOU TO WANT TO RESEARCH BIGFOOT IN THE FIRST PLACE?Well, in 1985, two friends and I were up backpacking in a national park along the Snohomish River. We decided we were going to cross country, so we left the trail and started hiking up what is called Six Ridge. We got to the top of the ridge and we got our backpacks off and started laying our stuff up and getting our tents out and all of a sudden, we heard a loud cracking noise. We all looked up in the direction. We were not near a cliff or a shelf. And all of a sudden, we saw a rock flying at us. And it landed about 10 feet to the left of us. It was somewhere between a grapefruit and a volleyball size. And then another one. And then another one. Someone was throwing rocks at us and they were landing ten to fifteen to twenty feet to the left of us. And they were fairly consistent in size. They weren't huge, but they weren't small. I've built rock walls for a living. I know how far I can throw a rock. And there's no way I could throw these rocks as far. Not even close.Then they started coming to the right of us as if they were trying not to hit us, but trying to get us out of there. So, it worked. We grabbed all our stuff up and didn't even take the time to put our backpacks on and flew down the side of the ridge as fast as we could.

WHY WOULD YOU ASSOCIATE THAT WITH SASQUATCH?We didn't at the time. We didn't know what was going on. I didn't know if it was Viet Nam veterans who had left society and had a catapult. We really didn't know. It was just so weird and so bizarre, we had to leave. These rocks were coming at us from at least 50 or 60 feet and landing 10 to 15 feet to the left of us and then to the right. If they had wanted to, they could have taken us out. Just the weirdness of the whole situation. We were not where we were supposed to be. You would have to have been there to understand, but it was almost dark.Here we were almost 9 miles up in virgin wilderness and we're getting big rocks thrown at us. So, we had to get out of there and we rolled and tumbled down the ridge onto the trail almost right at dark. And we started running fast to the camp we had passed at the 9 mile mark called Camp Pleasant on the Snohomish River Trail. And as we came running into Camp Pleasant, three other hikers were coming up from down below and met us at the exact same time. We started trying to tell them what was going on and we heard more noise in the woods. This thing had apparently paced us and more smaller rocks kept falling around camp that night as everybody, including the three new hikers - now there were six of us - were sitting around the campfire. A couple of girls were there. They were crying. It was very scary. The next morning we went down that weekend and made a report to the ranger station and he just kind of looked at us strange.Then a couple of weeks later, I was hiking back up there with my first wife and that's when I found my first Sasquatch tracks coming off the ridge where the rocks were thrown at us. They were there as plain as day. There was snow, and ours tracks were the only snowshoe tracks. There wasn't anybody else up there.

AND IN A WAY, YOU HAVE TO HAVE SYMPATHY FOR THESE CREATURES THAT THEY WOULD THROW ROCKS AT SOMETHING THAT THEY DO CONSIDER TO BE AN INTRUDER AND HUMANS HAVE DESTROYED A LOT OF THINGS IN THE ENVIRONMENT. THERE MIGHT BE GOOD REASON FROM A SASQUATCH POINT OF VIEW ABOUT WHY THEY WOULD THROW ROCKS.Well, I think it speaks to their intelligence and behavior. I think these things are a lot more intelligent than we give them credit for. When the rocks were thrown at me in the Olympics, they were not thrown at us. They were thrown around us. That was apparent because the rocks that were coming were thrown accurately.Plus their stealth. I think they are very, very intelligent creatures.WILL THE WORLD ACCEPT THE FACT THEY EXIST WITHOUT WANTING ONE IN A CAGE OR DEAD?Well, I think that if the general public was taught or explained the evidence that is out there, the general world would accept it before the scientific community. A lot of scientists aren't even willing to look at the subject because as far as they know, it doesn't exist so why study it.AND SOMETHING OUT THERE HAS HAIR SOMEWHERE BETWEEN HUMAN AND PRIMATE, BUT IS NEITHER.Right. That fact alone is compelling enough as far as I'm concerned, along with the work that's been done on the dermal ridging. The dermal ridging is not something you can readily fake. If you have a good dermal ridge expert, he can tell you almost instantly if it's a manufactured track or a living animal. These two facts alone: the hair and dermal ridging are compelling."More Info More photographs and hair analyses will be released in the future after more scientific investigations have been completed.

One of the Northwest's biggest mysteries, the Sasquatch, also known as Bigfoot, is no longer a legend -- it's alive, according to researchers who have discovered what they say is its imprint.

Deep in the northwest mountains, a team of 14 researchers tracked the elusive primate-type beast for a week deep in the mountains of the Gifford Pinchot national forest.

The imprint appears to be a hair-covered body lying down on its side, reaching over to get some fruit, the researchers said. Thermal imaging confirmed that the body print was only hours old.

From the imprint, they created a 250 lb. plaster cast of what they say is the lower half of the Sasquatch.

"We actually almost missed it," said researcher Derek Randels. "It dawned on us all at the same time, and it was overwhelming."

"These heel impressions weren't made by a person getting in the mud wallow and squirming around," said Dr. Jeff Meldrum of Idaho State University.

The trackers gathered hair samples that will be analyzed by DNA testing. They also made voice recordings of what they think is the Sasquatch wailing, also being sent off for analysis.

The creature is believed to be 7 to 8 feet tall, weighing 800 to 1,000 lbs. The researchers believe there are hundreds just like it throughout forests in the Northwest.

There are a lot of sightings, they added, but estimate that more than 90 percent of sightings go unreported for fear of ridicule.

"This cast is very hard to argue with," said Randels. "We have had a lot of very intelligent people looking at it in the last two days and I think it's just going to be a heck of a shot in the arm for the credibility of the creature's existence."

By Don Hunter with Rene DahindenSasquatch/Bigfoot: The Search for North America's Incredible Creature

One balmy May Sunday [in 1950], on the slopes [of Mt. St. Helens] near Ape Canyon, a well-known Seattle mountaineer named Jim Carter disappeared in circumstances that were, to say the least, mysterious. No trace of Carter, who was with a twenty-member climbing party, was ever found although teams of experienced mountain rescue units scoured the area for a week.

As the party came down the mountain Carter left them at the 8,000-foot level, near a landmark called Dog's Head. He said he would go ahead and photograph the others as the skied towards the timber line. That was the last time he was seen. The next morning a discarded film box was found at the spot where presumably he had loaded his camera.

Carter's ski tracks indicated that he had raced down the mountain, as one searcher described it in a story in the Oregon Journal. "taking chances that no skier of his calibre would take unless something was terribly wrong or he was being pursued." The speaker was Bob Lee, a Portland Mountaineer, who is a member of the exclusive international Alpine Club and who has led and advised U.S. expeditions to the Himalayas.

In his wild descent, Carter jumped several gaping crevices before going right off a steep canyon wall. Neither he nor his equipment was ever found.

Several of the seventy-five men in the search parties reported they experienced an uncomfortable feeling of being watched the whole time they were in the area. Lee said, "It was the most eerie experience I've ever had. I could feel the hair on my neck standing up... I was unarmed except for my ice axe and, believe me, I never let go of that."

Lee said that both he and Dr. Otto Trott, the surgeon for the Seattle Mountain Rescue Council, came to the same conclusion: "The apes got him."

Bibliographical Information:

Originally Published in 1973 by McClelland & Stewart. Revised Edition published in 1993 by Firefly Books(U.S.), Inc.

"In early December of 1976, the writer traveled the Gifford Peak Way Trail with Spencer Frey of Trout Lake, Washington. The trail was the last one that needed to be documented for inclusion in this book and weather and time were becoming a matter of concern. In order to hurry things along, Spence brought two of his finest pack horses. The sun was shining, but the ground was frozen and the lakes were icing around the edges.

We stopped for lunch in a pretty meadow alongside Darlene Lake*. Spence turned the horses loose to graze while we proceeded to enjoy some cold meat sandwiches, pickles and homemade cookies.

As if on signal, the two horses made a complete turnabout and stood facing the trees surrounding the meadow to the south. They continued to stand, frozen in this position as though hipnotized.

Spence said quietly, "Something's out there!"

In another moment there was a crackling of brush, and the horses commenced to fidgit. I asked Spence if I could borrow his handgun and go take a look. (He carries the gun in the event a horse should break a leg, etc.) I eased into the woods, moved around for awhile, but never saw a thing.

We packed up and moved across the trail to find the lakes on the north side. We found a beauty and were admiring it when, all of a sudden, a roaring growl came from across the lake about 300 feet away. The horses half-reared and I exclaimed, "Wow, what was that?" Spence replied, "Mel, I don't know." We listened for a long time but we never heard another sound.

Spence and I discussed the incident for most of the way down the trail. He was with the Forest Service for many years and, after retirement, packed people into the wilderness for hunting and recreation. He commented, "I've heard bears bawl, cougars scream and elk bugle, but never a sound like that." We talked about the big grey wolf as a possibility. The big grey wolf lived in this country in the 1800's, but is thought to be extinct.

About the time we returned to the car I hesitatingly mentioned the subject of "Big Foot." Spence confessed to having thought about it, but was reluctant to mention it to me.

I cannot honestly say whether I believe in Bigfoot. I do, however, know one thing for sure. When I walk past Cultus Lake this summer, or the Darlene Lakes, I am going to keep my eyes and ears open. I will probably breathe a little easier when I get well beyong those areas. Who knows? Maybe I will see Big Foot."

* Investigator's Note: The Darlene Lakes, consisting of Janet Lake, Peggy Lake and Darlene Lake, are now simply known as The Basin Lakes, and are denoted as such on current maps of the Indian Heaven Wilderness Area. The Gifford Peak Way Trail that travels through this area is no longer maintained by the USFS.

Also of note is that the exact date (day and month) of publishing is not known. January 1 was used as an arbitrary date for that year.Bibliographical Information:

A meander-line of five toed tracks thought to have been made by the giant, human-like Sasquatch or "Bigfoot" was found on the edge of a logging show near the Skamania-Clark County borders Monday, Oct. 7 by an independent logging contractor and his crew, according to Robert Morgan, leader of the American Yeti Expedition. The Expedition has been searching for Bigfoot in the area since spring.

Morgan was contacted Oct 10, after much soul-searching on the part of the logger who was inclined not to report the incident. At the insistence of his crew, the logger notified Morgan.

Found were 161 actual tracks but further study produced additional imprints for a potential total of 264, Morgan said. The tracks were found along a fire trail bordering a logged area and they traversed some 350 yards.

"We couldn't believe it... we know it can't exist... but there they are so what can I say," the logger said in a discussion with Morgan.

According to Morgan, Dr. Grover Krantz of Washington State University, Pullman, a noted physical anthropologist and comparative anatomist, visited the site Saturday, Oct. 12 and examined and measured the impressions. He and Morgan also made plaster of Paris casts of seven prints.

He told Morgan that, in his opinion, if the tracks were faked the hoaxer would have to know a lot about anatomy.

Morgan pointed out that his research indicates this is the longest series of tracks ever examined by a scientist and from them new knowledge about Sasquatch gaits and movement in flat country may be determined.

Length of each footprint was 18 inches and measurements showed seven inches across the ball of the foot and 5 1/2" across the heel. Average stride was 50 inches.

Morgan pointed out other sightings have been made in the general area this summer. In July a man saw what may have been a Bigfoot several miles from the location of the most recent track findings. In mid-August a large grey creature was sighted by loggers on the upper reaches of the Washougal River.

Helping Morgan piece the puzzle together has been Elizabeth Moorman, a writer and biologist. A native of Texas, she is a graduate in biology from the University of Houston. A part of the expedition this summer, she used a passive approach in an attempt to make contact with a Sasquatch.

This involved camping by herself in remote locations in the Gifford Pinchot and eating only dried fruits and nuts and local berries, she said. She emphasized that vegetarian creatures give off less threatening odors.

Morgan added that on two separate occasions the fire-watch and loggers on the logging site had heard chirping like whistles, "...totally outside their experience."

Two other times the fire-watch had reported that the herd of cattle on the property spooked and crashed through the brush for no apparent reason.

In another incident, a large buck deer came down through the logging operation so exhausted from apparently being pursued, that a man could have easily caught it, the fire-watch said.

Morgan says the property owner has now found it impossible to find a man who will operate as a fire-watch in the valley.

The American Yeti Expedition will finish work in the Pacific Northwest Wednesday, Oct. 23, Morgan said. The expedition will return to Florida to work under the auspices of the American Anthropological Research Foundation in an attempt to find Bigfoot in the Everglades, he said.

Morgan hopes to lead another expedition into the Gifford Pinchot next spring and summer.Bibliographical Information:

Picture included: Plaster of Paris castings of 18-inch Bigfoot tracks found on logging operation near Skamania-Clark County border are shown by American Yeti Expedition leader Robert Morgan and expedition member Elizabeth Moorman, a biologist. Finding was made public this week and revealed 161positive, whole footprints with additional "partials" bringing total to 264.

One of the eeriest encounters with a Sasquatch may have taken place in 1950. One warm Sunday on Mountaineer St. Helens, a well known Seattle mountaineer named Jim Carter disappeared in an area where so many Sasquatch sightings have occurred that it has been named Ape Canyon. Carter's ski tracks indicated he had careened down the mountain, taking chances, as one searcher said, "that no skier of his caliber would take, unless something was terribly wrong or he would take unless something was terribly wrong or he was being pursued."

In his wild descent Carter jumped several yawning crevices before going right off a steep canyon wall. Neither he nor his equipment were ever found, and several members of the search party reported they had a weird feeling of being watched all the time they were there.

Among the searchers was Bob Lee, a mountaineer who subsequently led a 1961 climbing expedition into the Himalayas. Reminiscing about Carter's disappearance, Lee admitted that both he and Dr. Otto Trott, the surgeon for Seattle's Mountain Rescue Council, came to the same conclusion: "The apes got him."Bibliographical Information:

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